Did anyone reduce their depression naturally?

[Suziee37]

Tried medication, tried councelling many times and types of treatments. I’m now interested in natural methods. I’ve heard nutrition might play a part. Not gone well today as having a bad day so eaten a lot of junk! Any one experienced in healing themselves from depression

Thank you. I'm dealing with mild depression and anxiety due to physical pain so this might help.

Pre lockdown I was on 60mg of fluoxetine a day. I am now medication free.
Being able to work from home, have a better work/life balance etc has done wonders for me

My dh manages his anxiety and depression through diet and exercise:

• no caffeine
• alcohol in moderation (even better without it at all and goes 'dry' if he's having a bad spell)
• cycling at least 3 times a week and walking.

Exercise works but only while I'm doing it

This is true @MarriedtoDaveGrohl - but I had a change of heart about this. I used to go for long walks in the woods and feel better while I was on them, then feel the heavy gloom set in the minute the walk was over. I used to think 'what's the point?' But then I realised how lovely it was to have an hour off those intrusive thoughts and that sick heavy feeling each day. Same was true of watching comedy or even playing Candy crush. Small, regular breaks from the gloom are worth it. They don't cure it, they are a mini holiday from it. That's worth having. Gradually you find all the tiny things that make you feel better but only while you do them sort of stitch together and you find you've had a whole morning of feeling OK, or a whole day.

Forgot to say, thanks for all the hallucinogen info. I would only try it in a controlled medical environment, as you said. But worth a go.

@monkeyonthetable I've had a dog for 12 years. Which is a LOT of walking often in beautiful locations without many people (cemeteries usually!) Has it helped? No. Or maybe I would have been so much worse. It's hard to imagine though.

I think feeling low is a different thing. Depression isn't really about feeling it's about thinking. Shame, going around and around with negative thoughts all that fun stuff. And when you're walking around those thoughts have time to happen. Likewise with a lot of exercise. The thoughts are there making everything dark and difficult. A bath is just another opportunity to think. I didn't have them for years.

Watching comedy, being with friends you trust, Games on your phone and sadly, eating all take you out if it briefly. It's not treating it though it's just delaying you treating it.

@MarriedtoDaveGrohl - I'm really interested in the way you think about it. You say it's not treating it, it's delaying treating it. That sound slike you think there's something that could actually cure it, rather than mask it. For me, ADs masked it and the side effects were dreadful - in the end they ruined my life in a different but equally debillitating way. I suppose I think of it as a chronic illness: it will always be there. I'll never be someone who doesn't have depression. But I have found a way to be someone who hasn't suffered from it for about three years after decades of illness.

With walking, I agree - the thoughts are there, so I nearly always walk with a friend so we can just chat about any old inane stuff to keep my mind clear. If I'm alone, I try really hard to just play mind games: look for everything coloured red or look for funghi - something to occupy the mind, or I practise CBT-ing the hell out of the intrusive thoughts, which can be incredibly therapeutic.

Oh I'm simply not prepared to live with it. It's that simple. ADs have made it go away. Completely. Then I've come off them and not had it for long periods of time and due to circumstances (some of which have now changed) it's returned but after a break of years. A permanent cure may be less realistic but I intend to use my alpha stim and try the hallucogenic route to keep it away for good. To keep it in remission for ever. My circumstances have changed and the depression isn't there or look like it's returning.

Walking with a friend isn't walking - it's social contact. It's not the walking that helps it's being with a friend! Ditto exercising if you're doing it with a friend.

Anyway I have no intention of trying to manage it on a day by day basis with exercise or cbt thinking or anything like that. Not when I have medical science at my disposal. If you're having to pull yourself out of it daily or even weekly it's still there. Mine isn't.

It's not a neurological condition. It's a treatable disease that can recur or not. Living with it is not an option for me. I simply refuse to. ADs saved me. I wasn't suicidal but I was 'moderately' depressed which means only just functioning. I could sit on the edge of my bed taking 30 minutes to tie up my shoelaces.

What you're talking about it masking it. We all do that. I'd go out with friends and be happy. Watch comedy to be happy. In fact I told my GP I didn't have it because sometimes I was happy. She soon disabused next of that idea and thank god she did. My gratitude for her and prozac knows know bounds.

The cunt psychotherapist (psychodynamic) I'd had a year or so earlier who saw me week after week with classic depression signs, crying, who wanted to talk about my childhood (not the cause) and watched while my six figure salary went down the pan and said nothing? Him I fucking detest. He fucking knew.

With one sentence he could have sent me to the GP and I would still have a flat in Kensington and an amazing career instead of having to switch to something that while it's worked out isn't the same money and is a lot less social with more pressure (own business)

So I have precisely zero time for the natural brigade on this. My doc had said she thought I had it and gave me pills which I'd taken for a couple of days and felt sick so stopped. And then it was the St. John's wort, 5 htp, fish oils etc. I'd run out of money for therapy then thank god as it was making it much worse.

I haven't found a natural cure to be honest. Every time I come off meds, it gets worse. Exercise helps only in that it staves off me getting fatter which would make me even more depressed. My problem is socio-economic/race related fears and not at all sure how to overcome them.

@Mimishimi that sounds like a symptom not a cause. I do recommend the alpha stim as a medical but not drug treatment.. talked about it more upthread.

There should be better drugs than ssris but there aren't. Some drs say tricyclics are very safe and effective but you have to be very careful with what you eat (certain drugs and food react very badly).

As far as SSRIs that don't make you fat, prozac is the best. All the usual side effect plus it made me fall over! But no over eating and you just feel so good on it. Well I certainly did! They do stop working eventually though.

Unfortunately not for me. I eat healthy, exercise loads, practice mindfulness and have a therapist for CBT and DBT etc etc, but when the depression kicks in, I'm doomed! Just the thought of brushing my teeth would make me cry, there's no way I would have even been able to get dressed, let alone exercise! My partner has had to take time off work when I had a depressive episode. I need the meds to be able to have the therapy, exercise and eat well. In my case, nothing replaces the serotonin and other chemicals that the antidepressants and mood stabilisers provide. My brain just does not provide the correct balance, medication fixes that. I have Bipolar II.

Yes low sugar diet and exercise but I must stress my depression was moderate. If you have severe depression I think medicine is probably key. I keep a diary and difference in mood when I don't get my exercise or have too much junk/alcohol is just so black and white. Wish I had tried this years ago.

Like another poster, stopping hormonal contraception worked for me. Within a fortnight I was back to my old self. And losing weight too, as it had increased my appetite.

Following with interest

I’m on antidepressants which I do find helpful and I have weekly therapy. But something that made a huge difference was getting a dog. It brought routine into my life and gave me a lot of the motivation I’d been lacking as I HAVE to walk and feed and cuddle the dog, and I have to fit it around my working day. I feel much more productive and positive, in a way medication has never quite got me feeling

I know I'm late to the party OP, but I found a plant based diet, no alcohol or caffeine and some daily exercise an incredible help!

@022828MAN

I know I'm late to the party OP, but I found a plant based diet, no alcohol or caffeine and some daily exercise an incredible help!

Hahaha love this! So no social life and eating plant based foods then? I'm afraid that would plunge me into a depression no amount of prozac would get me out of!

Lois in depression terms moderate is actually pretty life changing.

I suggest if anyone needs to know what they are dealing with to do the online depression test. When you are in the eye of the storm it's hard to really see what's happening. I've found it incredibly accurate. Just answer truthfully and with your first instinct - not how you would like it to be.

@eurochick hormones is a great shout! Hormonal contraceptives and the menopause/peri menopause can play havoc with your mind. Some friends recommended a private hrt doc (can't remember her name) and it's not a cheap route BUT is a million times better than the nhs.

I've lived with depression all my adult life and have come to terms with it, and refuse medication as it makes me worse.
I've also had two breakdowns, the last recently.
For me it really is the realisation that even with support from family I have to do it myself.
Now nobody knows more than me that it's not that simple, so I do what i can taking little steps.
What has helped me. The getting dressed to shoes and shining sink from flylady, vitamin D and extra sunshine, vitamin B12, keeping the sheets from counsellor explaining what each feeling really means, writing it all down, keeping a journal/ diary, knowing I'm not on my own, taking each day one at a time, getting enough rest, even if I can't sleep.
Eating even if not hungry, trying the next meal if I haven't kept the last one down. Leaning on friends and family, they want to help.

MarriedtoDaveGrohl In my experience, long term moderate depression has had quite a huge impact on my life. The drip effect of only getting by and not taking on too much stress, always being 'meh' etc I have lost out on quite a lot so thanks for acknowledging that.

Hahaha love this! So no social life and eating plant based foods then? I'm afraid that would plunge me into a depression no amount of prozac would get me out of!

Sorry what? Who said anything about no social life?
Caffeine causes anxiety and alcohol is a depressant. This isn't news to you surely.
And yeah, a vegan diet really lifted my mood. Again, this isn't news to a lot of people. But I'm sure your condescending and judgy manner will do wonders for people's mental health.

But surely the point is that different methods work for different people. No two brains are wired the same. We share our knowledge because we are all prepared to try new things to see what works for us. I know I need meat and small amounts of wine. But equally, I know that both DS and I are super sensitive to sugar and it really drives our moods down - his especially. So we cut out sugar as soon as we start to feel a bit down without cause.

@MarriedtoDaveGrohl (every time I type your name I have to resist saying in a pull-yourself-together voice: 'What you complaining about, love? You're married to Dave Grohl)

Which online depression test? There are loads.

@LoisWilkersonslastnerve and @Devlesko how awful for you both. There do seem to be a certain number of people for whom the only option is to manage it - and that managing it involves putting up with it, you both have my deepest sympathies. .

Do try out the alpha stim though. It's a medical device and if it doesn't work you will be able to sell it for close to its original value on eBay. Or there might be one for sale there and you can use PayPal credit? If I didn't have it I'd be gutted because miraculous though meds were they don't work for me any more.

@022828MAN

Hahaha love this! So no social life and eating plant based foods then? I'm afraid that would plunge me into a depression no amount of prozac would get me out of!

Sorry what? Who said anything about no social life?
Caffeine causes anxiety and alcohol is a depressant. This isn't news to you surely.
And yeah, a vegan diet really lifted my mood. Again, this isn't news to a lot of people. But I'm sure your condescending and judgy manner will do wonders for people's mental health.

I'm not being condescending or judgy. But FOR ME that particular 'cure' is far worse than the disease. I don't have a load of teetotal friends and rather enjoy The conviviality of a good pub or get together.

That's the thing about most teetotal vegans. No sense of humour.

[quote monkeyonthetable]@MarriedtoDaveGrohl (every time I type your name I have to resist saying in a pull-yourself-together voice: 'What you complaining about, love? You're married to Dave Grohl)

Which online depression test? There are loads.[/quote]
Haha well to be fair I'm not actually depressed. Or married to Dave Grohl (sadly). I'd probably go belt and braces and do two.
assets.nhs.uk/tools/self-assessments/index.mob.html?variant=42

And this. www.psycom.net/depression-test/